1. Field of the Invention
The apparatus and assembly of the present invention relates to lighted guidance systems for highways. More particularly, the apparatus relates to a support assembly for supporting a lighted tube mountable on anti-glare panels on portions of a highway to alert drivers to be cautious at that particular portion of the highway.
2. General Background of the Invention
In the development of the highway system, particularly in the United States, there are constant upgrades, reconstruction and new construction of portions of the highway system, particularly on the interstate system. Of course, while this type of upgrade or construction is ongoing, the various state highway departments attempt to maintain the highway open to traffic, yet are very vigilant in alerting drivers to the construction that is ongoing in a particular section of the highway. For example, one problem that has arisen is in instances when traffic is routed from a four lane highway to a two lane section of highway while the highway is undergoing repair. It is common that one of the four lane sections must be merged into the other four lane section, and commence to a two lane section. At the point of merger, while the traffic is moving from an entrance lane onto the highway, particularly at night, the oncoming traffic is often blinded by the lights of the car merging onto the highway. Therefore, there has been patented a device known as an anti-glare panel, U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,241 entitled "Lighted Anti-Glare Paddle System" which is positioned on a median, and is angulated so that a plurality of these anti-glare panels forms a continuous wall effect between the lanes, and therefore the lights of the merging traffic do not interfere with the ongoing traffic. Another important instance where highway warnings are important are sharp turns or elevated turns on an interstate system, which may result in a vehicle miscalculating speed around the turn and making contact with the sidewall of the turn, or often times at night time, not appreciating that the turn is upcoming and again, results in an accident. In these particular instances, there has been devised a particular warning system known as a lighted guidance system, which is a continuous tube extending along the wall, for example, of a walled turn in a highway, where the lighted tube containing a phosphorescent or glowing material therein, serves as a lighted alert when the automobile approaches the turn and the driver is alerted that the turn, is upcoming due to the glowing material within the tube. Often times, these tubes may be used in conjunction with the system of anti-glare panels as was discussed earlier.
One of the problems that is confronted with the use of such tubes on highway systems is the manner in which the tubes are mounted onto the anti-glare panel system on the highway. For example, if there is an attempt to mount a continuous lighted tube, which may be of several hundred feet in length along a certain portion of highway over the length of the tube, the tube may undergo turns and bends which would make it difficult to mount it on a continuous basis due to the various turns in the tube along its path. Therefore, there is a need for a support bracket which would enable a continuous lighted tube to be mounted adjacent a highway on anti-glare panels which would accommodate the various twists and turns that the tube may undergo, yet still insure secure mounting of the tube along its entire length.